Technically endowed, Duleep, if anything, put a bloom on the orthodox. His good vision allowed him liberties denied to others; when asked how he managed to deal with the googly, Duleep replied without any loss of modesty, "When the light is good I can see from the seam in the air which way the ball is spinning." Soft-spoken and charming, he was to lose his temper publicly only once during his playing career. Caught in a suspiciously watered wicket at Maidstone versus Kent in 1929---evidently to help local spinner Tich Freeman---Sussex had no effective answer to counter the turning ball. An angry Duleep told Harold Gilligan after the lost game that he would make a hundred in each innings in the return fixture at Hastings. "And I mean it!" he underlined. Duleep hit 115 and 246 in the August match, scoring at the rate of 70 runs an hour. The first innings lasted 100 minutes in the stretch before lunch on the first day. On the third morning, Duleep 149 not out, scored the balance of his runs in 70 minutes, missing by 3 a century before lunch. "In all my career," said the chastened Freeman, "I have never seen a more wonderful display of batsmanship." In 1932 Sussex was on the verge of winning the County Championship when Duleep fell ill. Ranji, not aware of this sudden indisposition, cabled: YOU ARE CAPTAIN OF SUSSEX. SUSSEX HAS NEVER WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP. YOU ARE OF THE ROYAL BLOOD OF NAWANAGAR. YOU WILL PLAY. Duleep played, scoring 90. Sometime later, he collapsed and was rushed to a sanatorium in Switzerland. He was never to play again. He had lost a lung. And he was only twenty-seven. (Concluded)
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